When you really enjoy a film or a show, it can be difficult to explain why you connect with it so strongly. There’s just something about it that truly resonates with you, and you can’t get it out of your head. This is the magnetic, fascinating power of visual storytelling. Alex Buono took the time to chat with us about this concept, which is the focus of his all new 32-city workshop tour, and about his career and workflow as a cinematographer.
Alex is the director of photography for the Saturday Night Live film unit, and has shot numerous documentaries, feature films, TV shows, commercials, music videos, and even an Oscar nominated short film. You’ve seen his well-crafted, hilarious work on SNL for the past 15 seasons, and he’s the DP and co-director of the upcoming IFC comedy series, Documentary Now!. Created by SNL all-stars Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, and Fred Armisen, along with longtime SNL film unit director Rhys Thomas, this six part series promises to ‘lovingly parody’ some of the best-known documentaries throughout history. It premieres on August 20 and it looks fantastic.
Documentary Now! Trailer
Alex’s interest in filmmaking is rooted in his earliest years. “I grew up in the 80s, and it was movies like E.T., Star Wars, and Raiders of the Lost Ark that really caught my imagination. I just always knew that I wanted to make movies, whatever that meant.” Alex attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, majoring in film production and still photography. Director Jan de Bont became his mentor, generously offering advice about filmmaking and cinematography. The day after graduation, Alex accepted a camera internship on de Bont’s next film, which turned out to be the 1996 blockbuster Twister. This led to more and more work, allowing Alex to hone his skills behind the camera.
A few years later, Alex shot a low budget film with a producer who also worked on Saturday Night Live. She invited him to come aboard the SNL team to try his hand at shooting the show’s film unit. “I was maybe 25 years old, and totally intimidated. I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing, and I can’t believe they kept bringing me back,” he remembers. “But over the last 15 seasons, SNL has been this incredible place where I’ve really learned how to be a director of photography. I’ve learned how to shoot, making a lot of mistakes and learning from them.”
Production for an SNL film unit project moves at a breakneck pace. “You get a script on Thursday morning, you shoot on Friday, and you broadcast on Saturday,” Alex explains. “You have basically one day to prep, one day to shoot, about half a day of post, and then it goes on the air.” Most of the films are parodies of specific material or entire genres, so research is always necessary. “You have just a brief couple of hours to prep, so there’s this mad brainstorming session,” he explains. If the script is referencing a specific film or show, the team will contact people who worked on the source material, collecting useful information and advice. During production, Alex works with a small unit of consistent crew members for maximum efficiency, and rarely brings in an on-site DIT. “I like to keep it small and move fast,” he explains.
“SNL: The Beygency”
This hectic schedule can be tough for Alex and director Rhys Thomas. Alex and Rhys have worked together for about ten years now, and most recently collaborated on Documentary Now! as co-directors. “We both really respect the prep and design process, and yet we have so little prep time on SNL,” he explains. Working on Documentary Now! has been a great experience, because the team isn’t restricted by such a short turnaround time. “We have prep periods, multiple days of shooting, and a few weeks of editing instead of just 12 or 15 hours,” he explains. “To be able to work on something with my SNL friends while also utilizing my background in documentaries has been incredible.”
Alex isn’t dogmatic when it comes to camera choices. “I really just try to marry the right equipment with the script and the story. I keep it very open,” he explains. For SNL, he often shoots on the ARRI Alexa or the RED Dragon. For Documentary Now!, he looked to the Dragon or the Canon C300. The team also supplemented the footage by shooting around 10,000 still photographs and treating them to look like archival images from various eras.
When Alex is seeking a specific aesthetic, lenses are his top priority. “What really separates or gives your images character are the lenses that you’re using,” he explains. “I find that there’s this knee-jerk instinct to shoot on the highest resolution camera with the most dynamic range and the sharpest, newest lenses, and I just don’t agree with that,” he says. “I’ve been looking more and more towards older, vintage lenses. They have mistakes, aberrations, and flares, and they don’t look so perfect.”
Vintage lenses were especially useful for recreating period accurate looks on Documentary Now!. One episode parodies Grey Gardens, the classic 1975 documentary detailing the eccentric lives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ aunt and cousin. Alex corresponded with one of Grey Gardens‘ directors, Albert Maysles, to find out exactly which lens was used in the original film: a late 1960s Angénieux 9.5-95mm zoom. Thanks to his favorite New York rental house, TCS, Alex was able to use the same lens for the episode. Another episode spoofs Nanook of the North, a silent 1922 documentary following an Inuit family in the Arctic Circle. Alex found the closest possible lens match: a set of 1930’s Cooke Optics Series 1 Panchros, re-housed but boasting the original glass. Another episode is based on Errol Morris’ 1988 crime documentary, The Thin Blue Line. Amazingly, TCS was the camera and lens supplier for Morris’ films, and they hooked Alex up with a 25mm Zeiss Superspeed that was actually used by Morris’ crew. “I just found that using period accurate lenses did so much more to recreate that vibe than what we could achieve with modern lenses and an elaborate post production process,” Alex explains. “Something felt really exciting about it—it added this feeling of authenticity.”
Alex mainly relies on Redrock Micro or Zacuto camera rigs. He’s also found the new Zacuto Gratical to be very comfortable, and is a big fan of its micro-OLED electronic viewfinder. “It is such a great EVF. Some EVFs are unusable because they don’t scan the image fast enough if you’re handheld and trying to pan,” he explains. Previously the only EVF he preferred to use was the ARRI EVF-1, but it can only be used with the Alexa. Luckily the Gratical’s EVF has come into play as an accessible, versatile alternative.
After years of interviews and documentary style shooting, Alex has found lights that he can rely on for a quick setup. The Kino Flo Celeb 400Q DMX LED is a familiar piece in his arsenal. “It’s just a beautiful light. It’s lightweight, has great output, and it travels well,” he explains. Fiilex LEDs are another new favorite, and Alex brought them along on his new workshop tour. “Their new lights are unbelievable. They’re super lightweight, affordable, and they’re just very impressive.” LED technology has made Alex’s work easier over the years. “They’re getting so much cleaner, with higher CRI indexes. You can just walk into a situation and plug them into the wall without blowing a circuit.”
“SNL: Hobbit Office”
When it comes to storytelling, Alex doesn’t just focus on the visual components. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for the sound department,” he told us. Though cameras were his main focus in film school, he also studied sound and sound design. He recorded, edited, and mixed sound for a few films, and was even nominated for an MPSE Golden Reel award. “I used to say that you have to respect sound because it’s half of the experience. You could have the greatest looking picture in the world, but if it has bad sound, it’s going to be a bad experience,” he explains. “Conversely, you can have a mediocre picture, but if it has great sound, the audience will still accept it.” Now he believes that sound is actually more than half of the equation. “Eighty percent of how we cognitively appreciate or understand an image is informed by sound,” he explains. This respect for sound has led Alex to collaborate with some stellar production and post sound teams. On Documentary Now!, he worked with Oscar winning production sound mixer Tom Curley. “He’s awesome. He also has a great sense of humor, so he’s just a lot of fun to have around. It was a pleasure working with him,” Alex told us. Each episode’s final mix came together at Larson Studios in Los Angeles, led by re-recording mixer John Chamberlin. “He’s just doing an incredible job,” Alex says. The show’s picture editors, Micah Gardner and Adam Epstein, also handled the sound design for each episode. “They are both just as proficient with sound design as they are excellent editors,” Alex told us.
For Alex, it’s essential to work with material that truly interests him and with people who really inspire him. “You cannot choose to work on something that you’re not passionate about, or work with people you don’t like, and yet we make those decisions all the time. We think we’re making some kind of strategic career choice by saying yes to something that we think will be good for us, even though we don’t connect with the material, or we don’t get along with the filmmakers. Even if you think you can deal with it, you’re never going to be able to do your best work in that environment,” he explains. “Every project has to be the best thing I’ve ever done. I have to constantly be getting better, and I do that by working with my friends and with people I care about. I don’t want to let them down, and I feel passionate about the material.” A great example of this is Alex’s frequent collaboration with his producing partner and writer, Tamsin Rawady, who is also his wife. “That’s where I find inspiration for a project – it stems from connecting with all of the people who are working on it with me.”
“SNL: Matthew McConaughey for Lincoln”
Alex began offering filmmaking workshops when he began his Art of Visual Storytelling tour in 2013. He was inspired to start sharing his knowledge because his mentors—including such luminaries as Conrad Hall, Dean Cundey, Jack Green, and John Schwartzmen—had done the same thing for him at the start of his career. “I always felt that if I’m ever in a position to help anyone else in some kind of mentor capacity, I’m going to do it,” he explains. Even though he doesn’t compare himself to the legendary cinematographers who helped him get his start, Alex is more than happy to pass on what he’s learned over the years. His experience at SNL has been so eclectic and interesting, since the team creates such a wide array of visual styles and structures. These diverse shooting experiences and intense production schedules inspired Alex to share his visual storytelling experience with other filmmakers and students across the US.
Now he’s offering a new workshop, the Visual Storytelling 2 Tour, focusing on visual style and subtext. The tour features an all-day, interactive learning experience where Alex shares his approach to shooting various visual styles. “This new workshop has been born out of a desire to get back in front of the class and do a better job of sharing my experiences,” he explains. He’s now including as many hands-on demonstrations as possible, and he’s showing techniques that will work with any caliber of equipment. “Everything we do is affordable and accessible. I don’t show anything that you’re not going to be able to replicate yourself. That’s very important to me.”
Another main focus of the workshop is the concept of visual subtext. “I wanted to talk about creating a more powerful image by understanding how to enhance its underlying meaning,” he says. “This includes symbolism, visual motifs, and reference material. You can tell a stronger story by controlling and designing your image.” In his workshops, Alex explains that every design choice affects the way an audience interprets and understands a story. “It’s not just the image—it’s the production design, sound design, music, camera placement, hair, makeup, and wardrobe—everything informs and enhances the storytelling experience.” Every design choice can either help or hurt the story, and this is what makes a film powerful and effective. “It can be overwhelming, but great directors know how to make everything count,” he explains. “It’s intense and exhausting, but I’m trying to offer some perspective to help people approach it. I’m not saying I even do it successfully, but we can all try to get there.”
Alex’s Visual Storytelling 2 Tour is coming to a city near you, and is also available on DVD. Register now: http://www.vs2.mzed.com
See more of Alex’s work: http://www.alex-buono.com/work/